Tambopata Ecolodge contributes to conservation
24 February 2023 (270 visits)Peru’s Tambopata National Reserve, where we operate our rainforest ecoadventure programs, is situated in the southeast of the country, wedged between the Madre de Dios and Puno regions. Our eco-lodge, built on the edge of the National Reserve and surrounded by the forests we protect as part of our own government-approved Private Conservation Area, is located around 70 kilometers from the jungle town of Puerto Maldonado, which can be reached from the city of Cusco via a half-hour scheduled flight, or by bus. From the airport, where we meet our guests from their flight from Lima or Cusco, it is a further three hours by vehicle and boat to the heart of the area of protected rainforest that is our home, close to the borders with Brazil and Bolivia.
The National Reserve’s name comes from the Tambopata River, a 400-kilometer waterway that emerges from the highlands on the Peru-Bolivia border, before flowing through a cloud forest habitat and into the lowland forests of the Amazon basin. By the time it reaches the forests we help to protect, the river is wide and meandering, and at the town of Puerto Maldonado it joins the Madre de Dios River. Together with the adjacent Bahuaja Sonene National Park, Tambopata National Reserve forms part of an immense protected area totaling more than 3,000,000 acres of rainforest, which is the largest area of protected tropical forest on the continent of South America.
We built our Tambopata Ecolodge back in 1991, nine years before our vast neighbor, the National Reserve, was officially created in September 2000. Following a long process during which we continued to protect the surrounding forest and developed a philosophy based upon a combination of conservation of tropical forest ecosystems and responsible ecotourism, our own Tambopata Private Conservation Area received official Peruvian government recognition in 2016. Today, as we continue to welcome nature-loving travelers from all over the world, we are the largest conservation area in our category in Peru.
The Tambopata river basin where we have made our jungle home is famous as one of the world’s most biologically diverse tropical forests. In the rainforests that flank the Tambopata River, naturalists have recorded hundreds of species of birds, mammals, amphibians, insects, trees and plants.
For more than 30 years, we have been working to ensure the future of this biodiversity hotspot. In addition to illegal logging, the threats faced by Tambopata National Reserve and the forests surrounding our own Private Conservation Area include agriculture, gold mining, hunting and fishing. By offering an unforgettable experience for our guests, we are able to contribute to the continued conservation of the natural world they come to us to enjoy.
